


can't help falling in love with you

by jeamren



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life, jeno was mentioned twice, just renmin being cute and sickeningly sweet, kinda i guess, the rest have zero mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-05 22:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16376579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeamren/pseuds/jeamren
Summary: The tune was his manipulated, the dance was his responding but his constant? It went by the name, Huang Renjun.





	can't help falling in love with you

The gentle plucking of the ukulele bounced across the walls of the room, beautifully ringing in Jaemin's ears.

 

It was a familiar tune. He has heard countless of renditions throughout the walks of his life but all of them lead back to similar chords and similar feelings conveyed with every note. It boiled down to the same, familiar tune but all of them were different from the beginning – a manipulated variable. Every equation had a constant variable and his was no different – only, his constant weren't intangible like chords were. 

 

His constant being Huang Renjun.

 

 

 _"Wise men say only fools rush in,_  
_But I can't help falling in love with you,"_

 

 

The man sang sweetly into the microphone. To Jaemin, nothing was sweeter than the soft hums coming from the man with his cheek pressed against his sturdy chest – in fact, it was the _sweetest_. He ducked a little lower only to see Renjun's eyes shut, clearly absorbed in the music playing in the background.

 

He continued swaying lightly from left to right, surrounded by a handful of couples taking the floor with them. However, with Renjun in his arms, it felt like the world had melted away and whizzed into whirlwind of nothing, leaving only the both of them on the dance floor as the singing continued from somewhere behind. 

 

It had been a pure coincidence that the both of them stumbled into this restaurant. Renjun had been intrigued by the mellow lights and the singing duo on stage the moment he saw them from the tall glass windows as they were passing by. He had the biggest child-like grin plastered on his face as he excitedly begged Jaemin to drop by the restaurant. Jaemin being Jaemin, who was he to say no – especially to Renjun. He nodded and let Renjun pull him by the hand, pushing the door open as the bells chimed above their heads.

 

After a few minutes of watching the duo and sipping on the last drop of their milkshakes, that very song started playing – it was _their_ song.

 

If the tune was a changing factor, the dance was a responding.

 

It was like Jaemin's second nature – embedded into his skin down to the bone. Like reflex, he stood up and held a hand out, letting Renjun take his hand and let lead him to the empty dance floor. He couldn't feel the eyes of the patrons watching them as they stood at the center of the floor – chest to chest and hand in hand. He just couldn't – not when Renjun is looking up at him with the utmost admiration and love for Jaemin in his eyes.

 

 

 _"Shall I stay?_  
_Would it be a sin,_  
_If I can't help falling in love with you?"_

 

 

Slow dancing with Renjun brings him a few years back – their last prom.

 

Their school held prom once every two years but the both of them had only begun dating over a year ago, their second last year before graduating the following year. That left Jaemin sulking with an overly enthusiastic girl he had randomly accepted in spite after knowing that Renjun had been asked by Lucas to prom and the latter had said yes.

 

It was perhaps the worst prom he had ever experienced. He had to physically swallow the bile, green in envy, down his throat as he watched Lucas and Renjun dancing at the dance floor with matching gleeful smiles. He had completely muted out the girl running her mouth by his ear, choosing to watch Renjun twirling elegantly halfway into the dance. Jaemin knew he was an ex-ballet dancer but he had never seen him do anything more than inhumanely impossible stretches before gym class – not that Jaemin was ogling the latter. He wasn't.

 

It drove him insane the entire night, watching Lucas do everything he had been dreaming of doing with Renjun and with that, he became bolder with his advances. Thankfully, it worked.

 

Renjun accepted his confession shyly after Jaemin had marched into his class and confessed. To this day, he could still feel his adrenaline pumping with a sudden surge of confidence and a little shred of jealousy after a little birdie (Jeno) had told him a little _something_.

 

The thought of their last high school prom together sent him into overdrive, wanting it to be the best, most _perfect_ prom Renjun had ever experienced – better than Lucas's. He wanted to end high school with a bang for the both of them. Thus, he had been jittery and anxious the past two weeks leading up to prom as he had been racking his brain for all sorts of ideas.

 

In the end, Renjun accepted with a light chuckle and a smack to his chest when Jaemin had stopped dribbling the basketball in his hand and ran up to Renjun – not before scrambling to grab a bouquet of flowers by the cheerleader's bench – to confess his undying love to Renjun in the middle of a basketball match. It was a small gift but a memory to last a lifetime.

 

He couldn't even find it in himself to care when their coach had grilled him to the bone – not when the image of Renjun's eyes glazed with tears played like a glitching video in his head.

 

The actual night of prom wasn't any different. They had matching white suits that complemented Renjun's honey blonde locks and Jaemin's pink locks very, _very_ well. They ate, they talked and took a stack of polaroids til' it could barely fit in Renjun's small palms. They had been relaxing, listening to their friends' chatters. Renjun playing with Jaemin's fingers while Jaemin's free hand stroked Renjun's hair gently. They were both enveloped in silence until a familiar tune was heard. Manipulated once more.

 

He quickly but softly pulled his hand away from Renjun's hold before extending his hand in invitation. It was his responding variable. No words were exchanged as they made their way to the dance floor – Jaemin's fingers interlocked with Renjun. With his hand on Renjun's waist and Renjun's arms around his neck as the latter looked at Jaemin an emotion seemingly miles away from the word _like_. 

 

_"Huang Renjun!", a deep voice exclaimed after the door of their classroom banged loudly against the wall. "Y-you! I like you! I like you, a little too much and I can't keep it in any longer – especially not when I have to line up behind five other guys. No way! I'm an impatient man, Renjun! Go out with me!"_

 

_The classroom fell silent. A dozen pair of eyes flitted between Renjun, who was stunned to silence, and Jaemin, looking as red as the apple in Renjun's hand. Renjun was wide-eyed, his mouth parted slightly in shock and he hasn't uttered a single word. It scared Jaemin to no end._

 

_"J-Jaemin.."_

 

_"Renjun, I really like you. I won't take no for an answer–" he sternly replied before stopping himself mid-sentence, "–wait no, consent."_

 

_"Oh my god, Jaemin. Shut up will you? I like you too," his voice slowly fading, barely inaudible to the people around him but Jaemin._

 

That night, as the last line was sung, Jaemin knew he mirrored the look in Renjun's eyes. When their eyes were locked with one another, seeing his reflection in Renjun's irises, he knew what he was seeing in the other was nothing but the purest form of _love_.

 

 

 _"Like a river flows surely to the sea,_  
_Darling so it goes,_  
_Some things are meant to be,"_

 

 

 Jaemin believes they were meant to be. 

 

They were so similar and yet so different in many ways. For instance, Renjun liked cooking as much as Jaemin does. The both of them had always cherished their time in the kitchen during the weekends, stirring up a pot of savoury goodness as they stood side by side. Renjun doesn't realise how much Jaemin loves the domesticity of it.

 

Sometimes he'll wake up, eyes still heavy with sleep as he shuffles lazily to the kitchen but Renjun, without fail, manages to make Jaemin's heart skip a beat even after all these years.

 

The sight of his smaller boyfriend, a white apron tied loosely around his waist as he shuffles across the kitchen to prepare breakfast was a sight Jaemin wishes to wake up to every morning – second after waking up next to his boyfriend in bed. He could hear the sound of Renjun's soft hums to the tune of the song – a little different but very Renjun-esque.  Like clockwork, he made his way to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around his waist, swaying them back and forth.

 

_"Good morning baby," Jaemin drawled, his voice a few semitones lower and laced with sleep._

 

_"Did you brush your teeth!?", Renjun exclaimed as his senses were infiltrated by Jaemin's morning breath. He knew the other purposely did so because it ticks Renjun off and Jaemin lives off it. Jaemin made no reply but offered a light chuckle before burying his face into the crook of Renjun's neck._

 

_"I'm gonna leave you to starve until you brush your teeth, mister."_

 

_Jaemin knew the smaller wasn't kidding. It wasn't an empty threat at all and it wasn't his first nor fifth time being purposely starved by Renjun. It was his fault for pushing his buttons but in the end, Jaemin would sulkily brush his teeth and come back to an extra serving of food._

 

_"Jaemin," he called out. The latter still had his eyes trained on the food and he swallowed back his drool before turning to Renjun. He felt Renjun's plush lips pressed against his and in an instant it was gone. "Good morning, dear."_

 

They were also very different. Right off the bat, their height difference stood out. It wasn't a huge gap when they were teenagers. All Renjun needed was to tilt his head up to reach Jaemin's lips. He could let his arm hang by his side when they hold hands. 

 

However, years pass and Jaemin only seemed to grow taller, bigger and more muscular while Renjun remained stagnant. Now, Renjun had to get on his tippy–toes to give Jaemin a peck and the latter would always bend a little to save the last shred of Renjun's pride. But, Jaemin being bigger in size meant that Renjun could steal his clothes. It was especially the best for winter when he needed to envelope himself in a bundle of warmth and fill his senses with Jaemin's scent. A mix of warm cotton and body wash.

 

Jaemin, on the other hand, would complain for hours about Renjun's stealthy theft. He recalls standing in the middle of their room, clothes strewn around on the floor and yet, his hoodie was nowhere in sight. At that time, it didn't really hit him that Renjun would be the culprit. However, when Renjun announces his arrival and Jaemin beelines for the entrance to demand for attention after having an exhausting day, he stops mid–track.

 

Renjun was standing there, clad in his hoodie as he chirped excitedly about a cat he and Jeno met on the way back home. Jaemin was ready to chew his boyfriend's head off for wasting an hour of his life but as his eyes fell on the sleeves of his hoodie that fell past Renjun's fingers and the way he looked even smaller than usual – he couldn't bring it in himself to do so. In fact, he quite liked the sight of it.

 

Later, they'd cuddle on the couch as a movie plays on the screen but Jaemin could only focus on the man beside him who had half of his face covered by the sleeves of Jaemin's hoodie. He didn't miss the pink tint that dusted across Renjun's cheeks. It's cute how his boyfriend still wasn't used to Jaemin's unabashed staring even after all these years. 

 

On days like that, as his fingers interlocked with Renjun's smaller ones, Jaemin truly believes they were meant to be.

 

 

 _"Take my hand, take my whole life too,_  
_For I can't help falling in love with you."_

 

 

 "Jaemin?"

 

He snapped out of his train of thoughts. He lowered his head and locked his gaze with Renjun's questioning stare, his head tilted slightly to the right. Jaemin said nothing but shook his head softly, dismissing the question floating in Renjun's head. He could hear the song slowly reaching its end and he clenched his jaw. _It's now or never, Jaemin.. just bite the bullet_ , he thought.

 

Jaemin felt his heart increasing in speed, thumping hard against his rib cage. He slowly peeled his fingers away from Renjun's, opting to not look at Renjun as his confusion morphed into hurt. Neither of them would ever stop dancing when their song plays – it was unheard of. It was never his intention to hurt Renjun nor did he like the feeling in his chest when he caught a glimpse of Renjun's hurt-stricken face.

 

He slipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket, feeling for the box that would forever change their lives. He shakily exhaled, swallowing the bile that burned his throat as it threatened to spill out onto the floor. That wasn't how he planned for it to go and it went down without any protests.

 

"J–Jaemin.. are you leaving me?"

 

"No! Never in a million years!", he exclaimed desperately in attempt to soothe his boyfriend. "Renjun, listen.. I–", he stopped. 

 

 _It's really now or never_ , he thought. He could barely register the crowd falling silent as he fell on one knee and all that was heard was the duo singing their song in the background. It felt like the world had stopped on its axis when he locked his gaze with Renjun's fear-filled eyes. He extended his arms, the box laying on his palms as it sparkled under the dim lights.

 

"Renjun, will you marry me?"

 

His eyes were misty, clouded with tears when he heard Renjun's choked reply – that one word that Jaemin had been dreaming to hear. He stop his tears from falling as he got up and enveloped Renjun in a hug. He exhaled shakily as he cupped Renjun's wet cheeks in his palms, looking at his reflection in Renjun's eyes with hazy eyes.

 

"I love you," he whispered before swooping down for a kiss.

 

 

 _"Take my hand, take my whole life too,_  
_For I can't help falling in love with you."_

**Author's Note:**

> ugh, hi.. i know i promised a new renmin but i'm not even halfway done with it and i wrote this in a whim to deliver something to my fellow renminzens before i take 76 years to upload the other one (which is something i'm really, really, really excited about! even more than this!)
> 
> i hope this was good enough, it's basically plot-less and unbeta-ed. i just felt like writing this while listening to leroy sanchez's cover of this song! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPsG4aIaox0 )


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